


Robin spreads its clipped wings

by hiyashe



Series: the life of the youngest robin [1]
Category: Batman - All Media Types, DCU (Comics), Super Sons (Comics), Superman - All Media Types
Genre: Bruce Wayne is a Bad Parent, Bruce and Jon trying to understand him, Damian Wayne Feels, Damian is searching his own path, F/M, Jon doesnt' want another partner, M/M, Past Tense, Running Away, Self-Discovery, Small Character Study, but he acknowledges his mistakes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-11
Updated: 2018-04-11
Packaged: 2019-04-21 09:21:13
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,075
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14281833
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hiyashe/pseuds/hiyashe
Summary: For the first time Damian is making a decision for himself - he runs away from home to find his own purpose.Bruce and Jon are doing their best to understand his farewell-letters. While one of them searches for solutions, the other questions his past mistakes.





	Robin spreads its clipped wings

He liked the rain, falling silently and moistening the pavements and open umbrellas in various colours. This stormy weather dulling everything in the environment in shades of greyish colours. It made him jealous. He would rather live in a world in darkness if it meant that every feeling would be dampened – happiness was totally overrated. The ups couldn’t balance the downs, wasn’t it better to feel everything not so intense and living in a grey zone?

He was already soaked to the bones, but the cold was therapeutically numbing. His mother once told he was born in a thunderstorm, making him believe that he would withstand every obstacle in life for his achievements, his goals. He snorted shortly, more like her and his grandfather’s goals, but that didn’t matter anymore, at least not to him.

The only important thing was now that he had to hide himself from them. He had enough money packed to fly to his home country, there, where he belonged. Not with his mother and the league, not with his father and adoptive brothers. He was born from an artificial womb, saw his mother at the age of eight, has never really touched a person if it wasn’t combat – he was born as a loner and he couldn’t fathom living another life, not that he wouldn’t like it.

It wasn’t a long way to the airport, but he was taking his time, it would be probably the last time that he would be in Gotham. With leaving his mother, he left also the name Alexander, now it was time to say goodbye to Robin. It wasn’t cowardice what he was doing, he was merely making a choice on his own which was still decided by the outside influences. This included also fleeing from his so-called family. They won’t miss him, they had a life before Damian burst in, and they could surely pick it up again.

It was easy to pass the security check since he had just a bag full of clothes and money and nobody asked him about his age – an advantage of the night shift he seized. He had a detailed plan what he would do once he was out of the aeroplane and it contained giving up his lifestyle and to adapt to the life of a nomad. Shouldn’t be so different than his previous life. The only regret he felt was that his more-or-less mutual friendship with Jonathan had ended when he acted on his plan. Well, he could find another fellow associate with his downright ridiculous attitude, maybe someone from the Teen Titans or a would-be hero.

Sitting on his rightful place on the plane, he took his MP3-Player out – glad that he equipped every device with solar cells – and put on his black headphone. It was done, now he had to sit back and wait until his arrival in Istanbul and then to Gaziantep, just to cross the state border to Syria. His journey began in Aleppo, helping as much as he can. There would be killing involved, he wasn’t so naïve like his father and believed in just disabling the enemy as the sole solution. Civilians and children with futures were dying because they couldn’t escape and damned be his father if his no-killing rule would ruin the future of these children.

But a bitter aftertaste remained. All his life, wasted to please the people who should love him regardless of his skills, bled for them literally and figuratively. With this journey he wanted to search for the definition of human. It might be a fruitless attempt, but it was better than sitting on his bed, thinking what-if’s. He was comfortably leaning back, music roaring in his ears and his left arm on the armrest, while his right arm was propped up on the window, letting his head resting on his slightly wet palm. Over ten thousand metres above the sea were raging storms; here, everything was silent and dark. No moon, just stars which were witnesses of his new life and he wouldn’t have it any other way.

* * *

 

Down on earth, a filthy rich family didn’t seem to know what had happened nor feeling the absence of their youngest – and maybe also the underappreciated – member. However, the little boy didn’t include one factor in his oh so fool-proof plan: he was dearly-loved and had the Dark Knight as father – also known as the world’s best detective.

“Where’s Damian?” It was one of the most frequently asked question when Damian was involved, though something felt utterly wrong.

The head of the family was standing in the unoccupied room of his blood son, wanting to discuss some matters regarding him. He was still furious at him, but if he learnt something in these past days then that silence wasn’t an option anymore. To his dismay his son wasn’t anywhere to be found and it was quite frustrating. Maybe he was outside for a breath of fresh air, something that would benefit him too.

But the life of a Wayne was never easy, it wasn’t in the job description. Superboy was flying with high-speed through the window as he was leaving to air the room on its own. It wasn’t an uncommon sight to be visited by Robin’s partner in crime, the unnerving thing was that he was neither in his typical attire nor was it night time. Actually, he shouldn’t be here at all.

“Batman.”, the young boy spat literally.

He was once afraid of the Big Bad Bat, lurking in the shadows in the wicked city where villains were trying to increase their power. However, nothing was preventing him from lashing out against the Caped Crusader. Damian was probably gone without a trace and he would be damned if his childish fear of his best friend’s father would forestall the possibility to reach to him.

Batman was unable to detect the hostility to him, more concerned about the whereabouts of his son who was nowhere in the manor than the change of voice in his uninvited guest.

“Superboy.”, he greeted him with the same non-existent enthusiasm, “Is Damian with you?”

His head-shaking caused more wrinkles on his forehead. The boy would be the death of him, making him always worry – as if it was not bad enough, the child before him looked like he had more bad news.

“May I ask if Damian have left a note on your desk or something like that?”

This led to Batman and Superboy staying still in a barely lit room at the end of the floor. Anger was clearly in the older one. The small paper in his right hand was beginning to crease under the pressure. Simple words were written in beautiful cursive penmanship by no other than Damian, he didn’t need some signature to justify his assumption.

“We will find him, Mr. Wayne. Even if I have to hunt him down.”

He didn’t doubt that. The son of Superman was really protective towards his loved ones and Damian had definitely a close spot in Jonathan’s heart.

“Not only you.”

He pinned his personal note on top of his overfilled pin board opposite from his desk, Superboy copying silently his action. These two notes were really kept as short as possible, revealing hardly feelings of the missing writer, but enough to radiate negativity. An understanding family would let him be, finding his way back home alone and be considerate of his decision. Unfortunately, Superboy and Batman were not like this and they couldn’t let allow themselves just to sit back while one of their most important person had difficulties.

“Jonathan, tell your father he should round up all of the Justice League while I’m going to contact Richard, Jason and Timothy.”

A genuine grin spread on his face. They would find his best friend back, no matter what. And when they’d found him they would have a really long conversation about pulling idiotic antics like these and that next time he wanted to be a part of. They were the “Super Sons” after all, like some dubbed them.

He really wanted to understand Damian, not just Robin, but it turned out that the real Damian was still in development. Being in alertness since birth didn’t gave him much time being a child and now he was trying to find himself – alone, because he probably thought that he had no one to back him up. It wasn’t too late to prove the opposite, though, they surely would find him. He had enough people who cared for him – including him.

Damian didn’t talked about his past in the League of Assassins and he understood it. As far as he knew, they had done a lot of bad things to him, like letting him meet his mother at his eighth birthday as a gift for succeeding his birthday challenge. He fought for acceptance of his mother, his father and everyone who he met.

But he had accepted him since the beginning, because everyone deserved the chance to do things right – that applied even more to a child who was torn between his parents and didn’t know what was right and false anymore. He was more human than most people, trying to please everyone but he didn’t know how to express it. For him, he failed to be a son, a brother and a friend because he was raised as the next ruthless emperor by his own mother who loved his skill to shed blood and not the person behind it.

Didn’t he see that his past didn’t need to catch up with him? He might trained as an assassin but he had the opportunity to be anyone. Even making this decision showed that he was more than a broken machine part. Perhaps he would understand that he was a valuable part of society – as Robin and as Damian – if his family and friends were searching for him.

They would have to change their advances, beginning with treating him carefully like a mistreated child instead of a stranger and a former killer with no emotions. He was still a part of the Wayne-family and his sole partner in crime, another partner was definitely out of the question. They had a bond like nobody else, they were meant for each other. Now his anchor needed help and he was willing to help with all his might.

“Consider it done!”

With a short look to the pin board, he sprinted towards the sole window, opened it swiftly and flew away.

“Children nowadays.”, he said with bittersweet undertone.

Hopefully his own child was safe and sound and was forgiving him for his harsh approaches in the past, he didn’t wish for more. It would take a great effort to find him and bringing him back.

He was glancing over the two notes and a wave of disappointment washed over him. These words were suffocating him, he couldn’t stay in his own office anymore. With quick steps he was in the too-silent corridor, on the left was his bedroom, at the other side of the floor was the vacant room of his missing son.

He was Batman, he didn’t show discomfort over something – a trait that Damian had inherited. He knew he would find Damian with the help of others, he didn’t doubt that, but knowing that his son was not nearby was putting him on edge. He already lost Damian once, he didn’t want to risk another chance to lose his precious son, not to a problem like this.

He should probably sleep a little before dawn, even though he was pretty sure he would not get a wink of sleep these following days, he would need all energy he could get. That would be rationally the best choice, a choice Batman would make.

He walked to the right.

Now he just wanted to dwell a little in his youngest son’s room, deriving comfort from small fragments of memories, being as close as he could get to him. Drowning in the small amount of good memories could help him to numb his pain and to lull him to sleep.

Perhaps he would even forget for a short moment that he failed as a father.

 

_“Searching for a spark of humanity in a killing machine. Until our paths cross again.”_

_“Trying to be the human being I ever wanted to be, not that of your or Mother’s beliefs. It’s a farewell for now.”_

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you guys like it!  
> By the way, English is not my native language - far from it - it's my fourth language and I don't have a beta, so there will be mistakes (:


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